Airdate: Little Britain USA

2009 could well be the year of Little Britain confusion, with the comedy team set to air on no less than three networks.

Things kick off on the Showcase channel with Little Britain USA, the edition Matt Lucas and David Walliams made for HBO in the US. There are several new characters including a little girl with the mouth of a truck driver, super-buff gym pals who’ll do anything, literally, for each other, and Bing Gordyn, the“eighth astronaut to go to the moon.”

It screens on Showcase from 8.00pm Sunday January 11. The series will later be re-broadcast on TEN later in the year.

Meanwhile Nine has the rights to the earlier, UK series which has already aired on ABC Television.

Press Release:

Matt Lucas and David Walliams, bring their unique brand of scripted comedy and characterization in an all-new, six part, half-hour comedy series, Little Britain USA.

Filmed in the US earlier this year – both on location (in North Carolina) and in the studio (in Los Angeles) – the series features familiar Lucas/Walliams personas from their original UK show, as well as new characters created expressly for this series. In addition, Little Britain USA also features guest appearances by well-known celebrities, among them Rosie O’Donnell, Vivica A. Fox, Harry Lennix and Sting.

Returning favourites include: • Dafydd Thomas, the self-proclaimed “only gay in the village”; • Emily Howard, an awkward transvestite in denial; • Lou and his (seemingly) wheelchair-bound friend Andy; • Marjorie Dawes, the insensitive leader of a chapter of the weightloss support group Fatfighters; • Vicky Pollard, a motor-mouthed teen delinquent with a bad attitude; • Harvey, a grown man who still craves his mother’s “bitty”;and • Sebastian Love, the aide to the British prime minister, who has “amorous” feelings towards the U.S. president.

Among the new characters debuting on the show are: • Bing Gordyn, the“eighth astronaut to go to the moon”; • Phyllis, who is powerless to ignore suggestions from the manipulative Mr. Doggy, her King Charles Spaniel; • Mark and Tom, hyper-masculine gym pals who’ll do anything, literally, for each other; • Mildred, who shares wildly inappropriate secrets from her shocking past with her grandson Connor; Ellie-Grace, a frilly little girl with the mouth of a truck driver; • Sandra and George, a couple married for 40 “glorious” years;

Can someone explain to me how they find Little Britain consistently funny over an entire season, let alone the 3 UK seasons, 1 US season, and 1 stageshow we now have?

I remember watching the first season — loving the first episode, being slightly amused by the second episode, and then wondering when they’d stop repeating the same jokes over and over again. You pretty much only have to watch the first episode of each season to see the new characters.

How many times are you supposed to find it funny that Andy wants “that one” and then gets out of his wheelchair?